SISTER SYN - Home on leave from the Army in 1969 Mason visited Ed Gregory at Gregory’s Marine on Motor Boat Lane, adjacent to Waterworks Park on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. On the wall above Ed’s desk mounted on a board, was 18 inches off the bow or “Nose “ of MY SWEETIE the legendary Hacker designed Gold Cup racer. When Ed learned of Mason’s interest in the early race boats, he sent Mason to local River Rat Ron Promo who had dragged a group of old Horace Dodge racing boats out of the Dodge Estate. Far oput of town on the corner of 23 Mile and Schoenherr Roads Ron Promo showed Mason his group of old boats which he had for sale. Racing Speedboats, Hydroplanes and Military target Boats. Promo was hawking an enormous 38 foot single step race hydroplane named LOTUS asking $1,000, while the sleek, low 36 foot SISTER SYN was only $200. Mason was salivating for the ‘SYN and not wishing to show his hand immediately, so he feigned “Why so much for LOTUS while SISTER SYN is only $200?? The answer became clear… LOTUS could more easily be converted to a roomy cabin cruiser.
Quickly Mason had purchased and loaded SISTER SYN onto Erv Unger’s transport trailer and had her unloaded into a cattle barn on the Sterling Wickwire Farm South of Jackson Michigan, and returned to active duty in the Army. From his posting in Korea, Mason began researching SISTER SYN. 1927 Morris Rosenfeld photos were ordered and sent to Mason in Korea. From Grosse Pointe, Mason got a letter from “wild” Bill Horn, SISTER SYN’S original driver and lifelong friend of Horace Dodge. Through Horn Mason met a flock of Horace Dodge’s surviving pals. Florence Sissman, Charlie Grafflin, Paul Miller, Al McKenzie and Walter Kade.
In the passage of time, Mason learned that SISTER SYN had been powered with a Packard Sweepstakes 1142 cubic inch V12 racing engine. He began a search, but very soon discovered how unlikely it would be to find . Only a handful were built and they got robbed for parts to keep the Packard Gold Cup racing engines running for the Gold Cup racers. However, his search did turn out a very rare cache of Curtiss Conqueror V12 racing engines used in Navy racing planes in the famous Schneider Trophy Cup races.
Mason found a pair of marine converted Conquerors lying neglected at the Velez Boat Yard in Port Henry New York. Lou Velez offered to sell the engines for $500. For another $1,000 two Conquerors “new” in crates. Mason went away and told Ted Larter of the offer, but learning of Velez’s reputation for having never having sold anything, Mark organized the needed cash and went back to Port Henry ready to complete the transaction. A sequence of excuses followed, delaying the loading of the engines. Mason stayed at Velez’s day after day from opening until the lights were shut off at night, waiting…. Finally the excuses ran out and the engines were finally loaded. They were in deplorable condition but one of them is running today in SISTER SYN, owned by Douglas Bindrim. Doug spent a gajillion man hours restoring the engine and it is certainly the only Conqueror running today on a regular basis.